Kenny & Company

Well, I might be a bit partial to Kenny and Company...I had a small role in the film as a young child on Kenny's football team, and it was made in my home town of Long Beach, California. It really was a great little film (for a then very young director Don Coscarelli) that presents a very straight forward view of "the All American Kids" going through growing pains in the 1970's...similar to what made you laugh and cry with The Bad News Bears. Director Coscarelli would soon be inspired to make his mark in the Horror Genre (after the growing pains would stop)...and would go on to create the well received Phantasm saga. I wish Kenny and Company was available on video, so more people could view some of Mr. Coscarelli's earliest (and most genuine) work.

Looks like everyone who first watched this movie did so on HBO when that station came out. I,too, remember seeing Kenny & Company as a young pre-teen. My siblings and I could all relate to the plot less storyline, everything from pretending to enjoy a "suicide slush" to trying to wash enamel paint off your hands with soap. I think that's why this movie is so well thought of. It's made for regular kids about regular kids. Too bad movies these days are fake and made primarily for marketing appeal. I was lucky enough to find this online (try Video den.com). The picture quality was pretty bad, but quality of the storyline made up for that. Even my own 10 and 7 year olds loved it. My son, who rides on $150 custom skateboards, has been bugging his dad to take him to home depot so they can make a skateboard like the one in Kenny & Company. Now we'll have to start searching for those old clay wheels...

This film is a must see for anyone who was around 10-15 years old in 1976. Kenny and Co. doesn't miss a trick in depicting the life of a seventh-grader, his friends and enemies. Prank phone calls, over-sized school bullies, Halloween hijinks and fickle first loves, it's all here.

The director unknowingly created a time capsule of such realism that Kenny is more enjoyable now than it ever was when it was made. Best of all it doesn't try to ram some big morality trip down your throat. It just documents. And unlike in "Stand by Me," the kids actually act like kids not philosophers. If there's any point at all to the story it's that the genius of kids is their unique ability to survive the banality and meanness of existence through a combination of devilish humor and harmless civil unrest.

I started breaking this film out at parties and now I get requests for it. Kenny and Co. is better the second and third times.

The Genre of movies intended for viewers age 10-14 tend to be either crass exploitation or idiotic morality tales. Kenny and Co. is that rare gem of a film that transcends the limitations of it's genre.

There must have been a window in the mid '70's where it was possible to produce a "kid" movie with both heart and brain intact. The Bad News Bears (first film) is another example. In the era of Mortal Kombat and the latest Star Wars regurgitation, this well-written, fully realized, (and delightfully 'dated') work is a joy. Don Coscarelli, who went on to notoriety with the Phantasm B-Horror series, should be noted for this sensitive, aware, and charmingly non-condescending look at young malehood.

I am very interested in finding a copy of Kenny & CO. on tape, and I notice that one of the other posters on this board mentions having a copy. If you are willing to share, please contact

thanks and keep watching. jm

I vividly remember seeing Kenny & Co in the movie theater where I grew up in Pomona, CA. I would have been about 7. The movie matches my recollection of how I grew up as a kid in 1970's Southern California. Skateboards....Kay Bee toy stores....smoggy days...hanging out all day and coming home when the street lights came on. As in the movie, blonde kids were cooler...your friend's parents never were. There is one scene that I remember being particularly sad...and as an adult, it's still sad! Decent acting from a bunch of amateur actors just doing what kids do. This movie is so much better than the terrible trailer - if you were a kid from the 1970s, it's a must see and fun trip.